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the community, who in any event would prove a tax to the rest of the people. If suffered to roam at large, they would prey upon the peace, violate the security, and plunder the property of their fellow-citizens. If confined to hard labour, they might still compel the commonwealth to contribute out of its annual resources to their support. But after all, is not the commonwealth the gainer by their confinement, even if the State Prison that holds them does not pay its way? For what would convicts do, were they in the full enjoyment of their personal freedom? They would commit constant depredations on the community, and live in indolence and profligacy, on the avails of their guilty deeds. We must compare what little they would earn by honest labour for their support, if left at large, with what they earn for their maintenance when confined in the Penitentiary-not forgetting, at the same time, what society would lose by their thefts, swindlings, counterfeitings, passing of forged notes, and other offences, and then strike the balance. In this view of the subject, no very alarming disparity would appear. But this is not all. When abandoned men are suffered to be abroad in the world, with all their evil propensities in full vigour, they spread around them a moral contamination. They withdraw others from the paths of peaceful industry, and diminish the productive energies of the country.

"Several of our Penitentiaries support themselves;* others, it is probable, would also, could there be stability in the tenure of the offices and trusts which are connected with them. The Committee would certainly inculcate a prudent regard for frugality; but let not an ill-timed parsimony defeat moral ends, vitally identified with the tranquillity and safety of society; and not only this, but even go to defeat its own immediate object, by the consequences to which it must lead. The state of the country is becoming more favourable to the debt and credit of our Penitentiaries. We are placing more reliance, than heretofore, on our internal resources, and more dependence on our domestic manufactures, especially on those of the coarser kinds; and we may find the labours of convicts attended with a more certain remuneration. But whether this prove the case or not, we should either renounce the Penitentiary system altogether, and resort to some other method to punish and prevent crimes, or pursue such a course of policy in its government as will render it the most effective in its bearings and operations. This has not been done when profit has been the moving spring of action.

* This may be the case in a comparatively new country like America, but it never can be in England, where lucrative means of employment cannot be found for criminals, without injury to the honest and industrious labourer and manufacturer. It was the matured opinion of the illustrious Howard, that an object so unattainable should never be attempted; and to the justice of that opinion we cordially subscribe.-EDIT.

"We have mentioned the want of proper diet, as a defect worthy of notice. Convicts who are consigned to hard labour should be supplied with food that is coarse, wholesome, and nourishing, and they should have it in sufficient quantities to meet the requisitions of nature. But here we should stop. Every thing calculated to inflame the passions, and sharpen the evil propensities of men, every thing of a stimulating nature,every thing calculated to render a Penitentiary attractive and pleasant, as a place of gratification to the appetite, should be strictly avoided. The use of ardent spirits and exhilarating liquors and fluids, in any shape, excepting as a medicine, should be rigidly precluded. This has not heretofore been done in many of the State Prisons. A certain portion of spirituous liquor has been dealt out daily to each convict; and their food has been far better and more luxurious than that of two-thirds of the honest mechanics in the community. The Committee do not say that this has been the case in every State; but it has been the case in their own, and in others. If we are to render public prisons, places where the desperate and depraved in the land find comfort and indulgence, if they prefer to move and breathe in their walls, to being in the possession of personal liberty,--if when they leave their gates, they cast back a lingering look on the daily gratifications which they enjoyed,the terror of punishment is gone, and the dread of law is destroyed.

*

"These are the views of the Committee, as to the defects which have produced a failure of the Penitentiary System in the United States. Others, perhaps, of a collateral nature, might be enumerated; but the leading evils have been fully designated, arranged, and amplified. We will concede, that the system has not answered the expectations of its advocates; but a concession, on the other hand, is equally demanded, that it has not had a fair trial, or that, if it has had a rational test, proof has been afforded that it can be rendered more effectual than any other mode of punishment. In Pennsylvania, for a number of years, while there was a judicious selection of inspectors, while there was uniformity in the internal regulations of the system, and while there was sufficient room for convicts, its operation was found peculiarly salutary, and the hopes and confidence of men gathered round it. In the state of NewYork, we can also say with confidence, that for several years, while the managers were men of public spirit, and of sufficient leisure to attend to the careful and uniform management of our State Prison,

* In the former respect, our discipline is much better than that of America; the sale, or introduction, of spirituous liquors into prisons having long since been interdicted, under a severe penalty, by statute. In the latter, to use a homely phrase, we have often thought, that, of late years, our prisoners also have been better fed than taught. Their food should be sufficient, but coarse, and if rendered rather unpalatable than otherwise, we know not that any harm would be done.-EDIT.

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it was productive of many public blessings that have since disappeared, from the existence of neglect, and from various abuses that have been pointed out in our general summary. And even admitting all that the opponents of the system assert, one question should be always candidly borne in mind: suppose that the Penitentiary System had never been established in the United States, what would have been our condition? It is believed by the Committee, that it would have been far more intolerable than the present state of our criminal laws. It will be perceived that the system has led to a change in the Criminal Codes of every State in the Union, as far as it has been adopted. They have been fundamentally reformed, and sanguinary and ignominious punishments renounced. Death, cropping the ears, burning the hand, exposure in the pillory, the public infliction of stripes, and confinement without labour in the county jails for a term of years, have been abandoned, and confinement to hard labour substituted. And after all, there are no data to authorize the conclusion, that crimes have been more numerous or atrocious than they would have been under the old laws. Reformation was rarely, if ever, produced by their administration, and many criminals have been driven to desperation by marks of disgrace; whereas several instances can be pointed out, where convicts have been reclaimed and reformed in our State Prisons, and been sent forth with a character for industry, sobriety, and honesty. It is not practicable to institute any thing like a fair and conclusive comparison between the operation of our present Criminal Codes, and the severe and cruel laws which they have superseded. Population has increased, and the history of nations shews us, that crimes and population do not always bear the same proportion to each other. The density of the latter has a material influence. Two hundred thousand people residing in the space of two miles square, will shew a much more formidable criminal calendar, than the same number scattered over a whole country, or a whole state. Vices are produced by the intercourse of the profligate; and bad passions mingle together, influence each other, and break forth in deeds of guilt and desperation. Inequalities in the condition of individuals become more apparent; property is less equally distributed; poverty is more perceptible, and want and misery more common. New relations in society are created, new laws are required, new offences arise, daily transactions are multiplied, and the avenues to temptations are rendered more numerous. Hence, it would not be judging by a fair standard, to take the records of criminal courts thirty years ago, and the records of the same kind of tribunals at the present day, and after making allowance for the excess of population at the present, over the former period, institute the contrast, and draw a general deduction. But let the Penitentiary System be abolished for a short time, and let the laws that were formerly in force, be again called into being, and administered for two years to come, and we should

then be able to derive some data on which our conviction could rest. If we may judge of the operation of Penal Codes in other countries, and in other ages, where they have been severe and bloody--where life has been held cheap, and corporal inflictions necessary, we shall find nothing to induce the renunciation of our present laws. And, indeed, defective as the Penitentiary System has been in its administration, and disappointed as ardent and sanguine minds have been in its result, we shall yet endeavour to shew, that no substitute, which the feelings, the sentiments, and the habits of the American people would tolerate, can be embraced with effects and consequences more salutary than those which have appeared under it. We see crimes and offences multiply: we forget the changing state of society; we forget the increase of population; we forget the new restraints that are naturally demanded, and the fresh temptations that are created; we forget what might be the tendency of different laws, and attribute the whole evil to the Penitentiary System. Reason and reflection will correct this error in judgment, and lead us to different views."

[To be continued.]

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POETRY.

[The following Poem, written some years ago, contains a representation of the impressions first received, on a sail up the fine river of which it professes to give some description. It occurred to the writer, as a tourist, that, leaving the more weighty and instructive range of observation to the intelligent traveller, the characteristic traits of scenery, and the sentiments they naturally inspire, might fall within the province of the Poet.

The reflections to be found in the poetry (if it deserves that name) are applicable to the passing events and feelings of the day. In travelling through most countries, our thoughts may be enlivened by a retrospect of the past; but from the absence in a great measure of historical recollections in America, our views are directed principally to the future: and this indeed we find a source of observation peculiarly interesting. How much benefit may the well-informed traveller confer on such a country! and let us hope that Englishmen, instead of seeking for occasions of animadversion, in the noble spirit of the times, will be actuated only by a generous desire of adding to the stock of useful information, and contributing to make so large a portion of mankind as virtuous and happy as the condition of our nature will admit. The cultivation of such sentiments seems as consistent with our best interests, as it will be honourable to our national character; and such examples the author can venture to predict, from a long acquaintance with the State of New-York, confirmed by some recent and able publications, will be met by the most amiable reciprocity of feeling in that distinguished part of the United States.]

THE HUDSON RIVER.

CLOTHED with unsullied azure, as the morn
Brings gently from the south th' accustom'd breeze,
With all its craft the Hudson's shore at once
Grows animated; and the loaded sloops
Which, near their docks, awaited its approach,
Now turn their painted prows, successively
Their mainsails rise, and thro' the spacious stream
In slow procession whiten to the north.*

Borne from the city's atmosphere impure,
Strong-scented wharfs, and ever-toiling crowds,
Commercial murm'ring on their sultry sides,
How ev'ry sense rejoices in the change!
What bright ethereal gladness sparkles round
The fluctuating bows! How taste the lungs
The chaste elastic rural air, wafting

Their odours from the fields on either shore! +
Inspir'd at such a moment by the smiles
Of beauty, taste, and feeling,+ by my side,
In loveliest combination, let me trace,
In strains unfetter'd by severer rhythm,
The Hudson's quarried 'course, thro' hills
And shelving steeps romantic.' On its shores,
Where less adorn'd the landscape boasts not yet,
As in maternal Albion's verdant isle,
Successive spots, selected by the eye
Of taste, with obelisks or temples graced;
Abodes of ease 'midst various growth of wood,
And interjacent pasture or domains,

By structures grey, ennobled and sustain'd
Thro' length of years by the superfluous care
Of dignified abundance; yet the charm
Of genuine Nature may inspire the song,

With all her finely-varied elements

Of hills and woods, and intermingled rocks.

Where first we coast the shore, its rural scenes
Successively engage our eyes; the green,

Suburban pastures, margin fring'd with sedge

With the wind and tide favouring, it is customary to see large fleets depart from New-York up the Hudson River. At present, a steam-vessel of 200 tons burden, which has been called a floating palace by an English tourist, departs daily on her voyage to Albany. + The excursion was made in company with an American family of New-York, on a visit to a friend's seat on the banks of the river.

Except in the vicinity of the city, the country of New-York in general, as compared with England, wears rather a brown appear

ance.

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